Bowing to the pressure of protesting health care workers in the province, the health authorities in Sindh increased the stipend of under-training doctors postgraduate (PG) trainees to Rs104,390 per month while stipends of the house officers (HO) was raised to Rs69,000 per month.
Doctors, paramedics and nurses had been protesting in the province for weeks to force the government to resume the payment of health risk allowance and meet their other demands.
They had boycotted the OPDs, wards and other duties, causing immense hardships to thousands of patients as doctors were not available to treat them at almost all the public health facilities in the province.
According to a notification issued by the Sindh health department, stipends for the PGs and house officers were increased after approval from the provincial cabinet with clear instructions that no healthcare official drew double salary from the health or any other department.
In the meantime, the provincial health department has also formed an 11-member coordination committee led by Sindh Health Director General Dr Jumman Bahoto to negotiate with representatives of the Grand Health Alliance (GHA) and present its recommendations to the provincial health minister.
